Millions of working-age Americans from all income groups are
struggling to pay medical bills and manage accumulated medical debt. Many will
continue to face problems with medical bills for years after their care was
provided.
If you have been hit with unexpected, costly medical expenses,
consider some of these tips for coping with your situation.
Talk to your health care provider.
If you find your medical bills are piling up faster than you
can pay them, don't hesitate to call your service provider and be honest about
your situation. Ask for a reduction in fees or discuss setting up a payment
plan that is satisfactory to both of you. It never hurts to ask, and you may be
pleasantly surprised to find that it is not that difficult to negotiate a
solution.
Avoid using credit cards or bank loans to finance
the debt.
Perhaps the only positive aspect of medical debt is that
health care professionals rarely report payment information to credit
monitoring bureaus unless the debt has been passed off to a collection agency.
On the other hand, credit card and installment loan data is routinely reported.
So the wiser strategy may be to deal directly with the doctor or hospital to
work out a payment plan, especially if you are concerned about maintaining a
healthy credit score.
Review your bills carefully.
Medical bills typically arrive long after the service was
rendered and they are notoriously complex, including multiple line items for
physician time, laboratory tests, radiology, etc. Take time when the bills
arrive to read through them and make sure you agree not only with the services
performed, but also the details of how much coverage is provided by your health
insurance.
Tap your emergency fund.
If there ever was a good argument for maintaining an emergency
fund, an unexpected medical bill is it. While emergency funds may not cover
your entire debt, they can help finance a payment plan that enables you to chip
away at the debt a little each week, each month, etc.
Obtain disability insurance.
Disability insurance is a critical safety net to deploy in the
event that you become ill and cannot work. This type of policy, which is often
available through employers, will pay you a portion of your salary for a
predetermined period of time, depending on the type of policy.
For additional help with medical debt, contact The
Access Project at www.accessproject.org
or call 617-654-9911. The Access Project provides free counseling to people
with medical debt, regardless of their income.
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© 2012 McGraw-Hill Financial Communications. All rights
reserved.
March 2012 — This column is provided through the Financial
Planning Association, the membership organization for the financial planning
community, and is brought to you by Robert Schmansky, a local member of FPA.
